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3-2-2-4 Fronts

Moving further into the 3-2-2-4 discussion, we will detail the different fronts available to us with 3 down lineman. By the way, it’s spring break so I have more time, maybe I can cover this whole defense by Friday or so.

Now I’m not a huge under front guy unless it’s a pass/spread heavy opponent, but I know some people love to us it and thus, we can get the discussion out of the way. In the 3-2-2-4 the Rover becomes a 2pt defensive end, the end slides down into a 3 tech, the nose into a +1, the bronco into a 5 and the Sam into a 7.

I do like the over front, especially against teams that are run first. The rover is in the 5, the End is in a -1, the nose in a +3, the Bronco is in a 5, and the Sam is in a 7. This strongly puts a man in the gap and at the point of attack upon the snap of the football. You may want to scoot your mike into a 30 to cover him up, but I feel that gets him too far away from the A gap.

Now, in the 3-2-2-4 we’re going to create an eagle front that I stole the concept from JU and a few other schools while at the Glazier Clinic in Orlando. The rover is in a 5, the End in a 3, the Nose in a 0, Bronco 4, and Sam 7. This helps cover our Will without giving up a man over the center.

Our double eagle should be used with caution. It worked great against a spread team that liked to pound dive, trap and QB counter inside. I’m not sure how it would work against more outside run focused team. The 53037 leaves you too vulnerable to power against 21 personnel, but against 10 your DL will be in a 53035 which works quite well to stop inside runs while keeping the OLBs outside enough to hit the flats if needed vs the pass.

The last front we’ll look at is another I’ve borrowed from JU. I call it “Fin” and it’s a 3-1-2-5 and may require you to sub an ILB out for a DB if your players are that specialized. We can play cover 1 or 3-man which gives us a lot of help over the top. I like this for 3rd and ‘forever’ or late 4th quarter.